Short Story

Wrote this a few years ago. It's one of the few I actually finished.

The Shield of the White Cat

Jennifer A Carrigan

White cats are unlucky, they told Jolie. With a calm shake of her head, she fired back the same reply every time, “I’m not superstitious.”

Every time Jolie said this, Crossie, perched on her shoulder, curled his snow-white tail around her neck and stared at the naysayer with his intent golden eyes. Without fail, this had the effect of forcing them back a step, and mutter an apology. Then, Jolie would laugh, and reach up to stroke Crossie’s chest, eliciting a powerful machine-gun purr. She loved his purr.

Jolie’s husband wasn’t fond of Crossie. “He gets hair all over,” he grumbled, “and smells.”

“You would get hair all over, if you had any left to lose,” Jolie would retort as she sashayed out of the room, Crossie following her heels with a lazy swagger of his own.

Crossie found Jolie one day crossing an intersection. He stopped her on the yellow line, weaving around her feet. A moment later, a huge roar and rush of wind raced past her. Jolie scooped him up, decided he was her savior and said grandly, “I dub thee Crossie.” He clambered up onto her shoulders and curled up, as if he belonged there. After that day, the odd pair went everywhere together. Church, grocery-shopping, even to the beauty parlor.

All her days were golden. Even the rainy days. With a swell growing in her belly, and the machine-gun purr in her ear that never ended, she was content. Her worries disappeared. She no longer fretted over pleasing her husband, nor keeping her home clean and orderly. While chaos and discontent brewed around her, her bliss grew, blinding her.

Her eyes saw was a perfect, golden world.

Her husband pled with her weekly. When his cries fell on deaf ears, he begged and cajoled daily. Even shouted. “The cat isn’t good for you.” “That cat will hurt the baby.” “The cat will suffocate the baby, or make you ill.”

Jolie, like always, ignored him.

Crossie did not. Every time the husband begged her, Crossie stared at him. Hard. With cold malice. He was frightened. But he loved her. So he continued to beg and plead with her daily. On the eighth day of the eighth month, he stopped. Jolie didn’t notice. She basked in the gold.

Rrrrratatatata! Ratatatata! Oh, how Jolie loved that purr!

***

One dark morning, she woke alone. It was cold. Thunder and lightning raged overhead. Her naked belly sagged like a half-deflated balloon. She ached. Fog plagued her head.

White lightning jagged across the sky, illuminating the room in its full horror.

Filthy chaos! Shattered glass from the windows scattered across the mud-crusted floor. Black splotches of mold and grime stained once pristine white walls. Ragged paper scraps scattered over furniture fouled by feces. The table upon which she laid was covered in dried blood and gore.

“Where’s Crossie?” she wondered first, and then, “and the baby?”

Cradling her hollow belly, she ran into the dim living room and found the walls drenched in black sticky blood. Panting in terror, she whirled around twice. Lightning lit up the room, casting stark shadows. Her husband laid in his beloved easy chair with his chest ripped open, guts and entrails pulled out and hung erratically around the room like festive birthday streamers.

His tongue stuck out of his mouth, black and swollen.

Her hands began to tremble violently as she struggled to comprehend. Last she remembered, she was huge with the baby. And the house did not look like this. A series of lightning went off like flashbulbs popping in her face, and she saw that her hands were thickly encrusted with black, dried blood. A glimpse of her memory came into her mind, an image of herself straddling her husband on the chair as she ripped his organs out, laughing and screaming all the while.

“No…”

Jolie staggered into the nursery. She flicked the light switches, but none came on. A small, dark window was all she had. Again, lightning blazed across the sky, and Jolie saw the baby. A swath of dark hair on his head. She half sobbed in relief as she rushed toward the crib to take the baby in her arms. Her misshapen, deformed, rotting baby.

His lifeless eyes were open; they were a bright, intent golden color.

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Still here.

And a lot of people are still here. Darn. I was hoping the religious fanatics would be taken.

I've been fairly busy. I started a new novel - now about 20k words - and I'm enjoying it much more than the 1930s detective noir one I was working on a couple months ago. I was struggling with it and kept getting bogged down on trivial details. Like "is this gun appropriate for the period? How strict should I be with period details versus detective noir/pulp stories written back then?" And I was also struggling with the language from that era. Sure, I've read a lot of books around then, but they aren't necessarily good representations of how people spoke back then. I'm a stickler for details, and when I see a modern term used in a period piece, it's quite jarring. Angst! I was at the point where just getting 500 more words was agony. When I realized that, I knew it was time to set it aside.

In addition to that, I'm also writing a bunch of short-short stories (under 2k words) and am tinkering in my head with two new ideas for novella-length stories (around 7k-8k words). I'll probably either A. submit them to contests for fun, or B. self-publish an anthology of short stories. We'll see, haven't decided yet. They all will need editing before I can even think of what to do with them.

On top of that, I'm still doing the 365 photo project (scroll down a bit to see the thumbnails and click on them if you're so inclined). It's somewhat irregular in frequency, but I enjoy it. I'm trying to do creative photos. Some are flops, some are great. Experimentation is good, I enjoy the process and I now have a few photos for my portfolio. I'm tempted to try get some work as a commercial-ish photographer, but truth be told, I have no experience in that industry. So I'm half holding out hope that some ad agency bigwig will see my pictures on Flickr and say, "hey, we gotta hire her!" I've heard of it happening to others. Why not me?

Never know!

With the summer - er...more accurately, spring (there's barely a summer here in Seattle) - coming, it's starting to finally warm up. The azaleas are in full bloom, it's a riot of colors in my neighborhood. We're starting to have more sunny days, and with the season change, I'm starting to think about shooting outdoor. I don't want to shoot the usual bird, flower and tree pictures, so that leaves me with people pics. I'm not a big people person, but still, I've come up with some creative ideas for outdoor shoots. I placed an ad on Craig's List for people with costumes and/or props and a desire to be photographed.

A lot of people fancy themselves being models, and they often will grab at any experience that helps them practice and if they get good pictures out of their time, all the better.

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Another unfinished short

Katie stared at the flotsam swirling languidly on the lake’s surface as she listened to her boss, the owner of the camp where she worked at. She could’ve sworn she saw a dead fish’s silvery belly, but it disappeared before she could get a better look.

“Don’t let the kids in the water this summer,” he said, worried furrows slicing across his forehead. “It’s polluted from the chemical plant across the lake.”

Sickened by the slimy appearance of the murky brown-green water, she spoke incredulously, “You’re kidding us? Half of the reason these kids come here is to swim and we don’t have a pool.”

Mike, a fellow counselor and a good friend, asked, “Is the company going to do anything about it? What do we do if one of the kids jumps in?”

I vaguely remember this one. If I'm remembering right, this was inspired by a movie I saw many years ago where someone was transformed into a mutant by tainted lake water at their camp and proceeded to terrorize the campers for many years. I think The Simpsons spoofed it as well. And the Swamp Thing parallels that movie. Damned if I can remember the name, though.

If you read a lot, you will eventually notice that many stories have common themes and plots, and it might pop up in your own works. That's okay - it doesn't mean you're being unoriginal, as long as you give it your own interpretation and throw in new interesting plot devices.

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Bad blogger

Been a little busy writing, photographing and other stuff to pay the bills. I'm back on the wagon though. Keep an eye out in the coming weeks for more entries.

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Today's unfinished story: The Pyro

Vash managed to roll her eyes and glower at her parents at the same time. She sat on an easy chair, watching her parents alternate between pacing and shouting. They were quite simply being annoying. She came home with her first ‘B’ paper today, and this was their reaction. Lectures. Weeping. Hysterical accusations of drug addictions. Satanic music. Sex.

“Look, you don’t understand.”

“No, I understand!” her mom shouted, “you’ve never brought home a B before! There’s something wrong with you!”

“That’s not mature,” her dad intoned as he wagged a finger, “you need to manage your time better.”

Vash sighed, and tried again, “Listen—“

Her mom interrupted, “Vash! I don’t understand! How could you get a B?”

Totally irrational. Insane. Vash pinched the bridge of her nose.

“We’ll get her a tutor, Pam.”

“I don’t need a tutor. If you’d just let me explain—“

“Vashana is smart. She doesn’t need a tutor. Maybe a psychologist?”

“Mom, dad! I don’t need help!”

“She’s been argumentative.” Dad looked over his spectacles at her, “and surly. Backtalking.”

“I was not!”

“Ah! Ah! Don’t interrupt!”

Vash groaned, running her fingers through her straight black hair in frustration. She rarely got angry, but she would lose it soon, she knew.

“I’ve heard of this, but I didn’t think it’d happen to Vashana!”

“What, dear?” he indulged his wife.

“The teen angst!”

Vash struggled to keep a straight face.

Her mother continued her rant, “It’s the music she’s listening to! It’s a bad influence.”

Exasperated, Vash groaned, “Mom!”

“George, reason with her!

He fanned himself, then loosened his tie, “it’s getting warm in here. Why don’t we take a break, and cool down…” He paused to chuckle at his own pun, “We can talk about this more later.”

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Mold, pollen and spores oh my

Probably interesting to nobody: I have different allergy symptoms in different parts of the country. Here, my eyes feel so itchy and dry and I just want to close them and keep them closed forever and forever. Ok, not that long, but at least until the itchiness abates.

Makes it difficult to get work done.

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Photographing Families: Tips

It can be a challenge for people to think of how to photograph their families in a creative way and get near-professional results. How many of us have photos like this one (below)?

Disclaimer: not my family

I remember my own family photos as a kid. My mom felt they were important and forced us to go to a studio annually. I didn't quite understand why we had to do it. Why did I have to smile so much? And my clothes, in which my mom made us dress up, were so itchy! My siblings and I always squirmed and fidgeted and quarreled and ended up pissing off my mom and the photographer. Eventually they'd say "Ok, whatever, that'll be the picture." And we'd invariably get a picture back from the photographer where one of us was making a funny face, not looking at the camera or having fits.And me looking like a maniac deer in headlights with my eyebrows as high as they could go, grinning madly. I made the same face Every. Single. Year.

With the advent of digital cameras, photographing people has gotten easier to screen before printing. That's awesome. But people still have trouble getting great family photographs. It's usually because the parents still insist on posing their family the way they had experienced it when they were children.

There's nothing wrong with the traditional family portrait, but most of us won't remember much about that day, aside from a sense of discomfort. The truly stellar family photographs are the ones where everyone is their true self and enjoying the experience.

Here's some tips on how to achieve that.

• Bring the camera along on a family activity. You're much more likely to cherish this memory than a stiffly posed one.
• Do consider the other elements of the photography - rules of thirds, distractions in the fore or background, and so on (more on that another time.
• Expect to shoot many many photos and choose only a few - most pro photographers do this anyway. Don't be afraid to ask everyone involved to repeat an event. Make a game out of it. If need be, bribe them.

• Shoot from an unexpected angle. Side, above, below, behind.
• When shooting small children, try getting down to their level, and shoot straight on. This is often an overlooked angle with children.

• Do lightly pose your subjects. Ask them to sit in a certain location, facing a certain direction, and then encourage them to interact with one another. 

• Pay attention to the light and time of day
• The above picture is great because it was taken during the "golden hour" - early morning or very late in afternoon when the light is warm and soft. 
• Overcast days are also an excellent light condition
• Midday photo shoots when it's bright and sunny are the worst because people will squint in strong light, and the shadows are unflattering.

Credits: All photos are from Stock.xchng.

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Hooks

I can't find the file where I save my practice hooks, so I whipped up a few on the spot. As my interests tend toward fantasy, supernatural and the weird, these reflect that.

As Doreen walked down the aisle next to her father, she looked at the love of her life, and saw Death's superimposed over his face.

Ok. Little wordy, could be better.

Doreen looked through her gauzy veil and saw Death's face instead of her fiance's.

Shorter, stronger, better. But the usage of look and saw weakens it.

 As Doreen lifted her veil, her eyes met Death's face in place of her husband's.

This is much better. It uses different, stronger action verbs, and is more interesting overall. It tells the reader that a wedding is taking place, and begs the question of what's going on. Is she marrying Death himself who had been posing as a mortal man? Or is this some kind of omen she's seeing? What's going on?

This hook needs editing and polishing, but if I were going to start a story, I'd go with this.

Another set of hooks.

Yvonne ran down the path.

And??

Yvonne was out jogging and ...

Passive verbs - avoid them if you can! It takes practice to break the habit of using passive verbs.

Yvonne jogged down a path through the woods and a dog tackled her.

Better. But kinda boring. However, it's ok to have two or even three sentence hook sometimes.

Yvonne jogged through the wood and something tackled her. She crashed with a yelp, and then heard, "I need help!" There was nobody else around, except for a big red dog.

More interesting. Yvonne is out jogging, gets tackled by a dog and it apparently talks. It still needs polishing, but this is the best hook out of the bunch.

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Oh and: OMG, another cop shooting!

That makes 10 in the year I've been here in Seattle.

 Suspect attempts to elude police, gets shot and killed. Details fuzzy

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Literary Hooks

You know how when you first crack open a book and read the very first sentence? Oftentimes that single sentence is what "hooks" you onto the book. It's what keeps you reading the next sentence and the next and ... It can be the deciding factor of whether to purchase and continue reading the book.

That's why it's important for a writer to start off a book with an effective hook. The old cliche made infamous by Peanuts' Snoopy, "It was a dark and stormy night," came from a real life book. It was written by English Victorian novelist, Sir Edward George Earle Bulwer-Lytton in his book, Paul Clifford, in 1830. It was such an effective phrase that it was borrowed from, reused, reinterpreted and quoted for the next 200 years.

As mentioned in a previous blog entry, one of the exercises I use to bust writer blocks is involves writing hooks. At very minimum, it flexes your creative brain. And sometimes a hook you've written in this exercise can spawn a new idea for another story. Challenge yourself to write 10 hooks in under 10 minutes, and then take 15-20 minutes to examine each one and ask yourself this: Is the hook effective? Does it make you want to read more? What can you do to improve it?

Check back here tomorrow for a sampling of hooks I've written.

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Short story about rock climbers

Another (unedited) unfinished story:

She strained to retain her hold on the plastic rock while her other hand fumbled to clip the quickdraw to the d-ring three feet above her head. But no matter how heavily she chalked up her hands, the combination of a damp, humid basement and her own sweat worked against her. As her hand slipped off the rock, for a split second she had time to realize what was happening. “Oh shit,” Rose thought, oddly casual. No time to panic.

And Rose fell. She plummeted nearly fifteen feet when the rope, attached to her nylon harness, arrested her fall. The slightly elastic cord stretched a few inches, and brought Rose to a stop safely, and she smiled, nonplussed.

Fortunately, she had been trying to clip the d-ring on an arete, and instead of falling against the fake rockface, she fell straight down into the midair. Rose heard a startled yell over the pounding rock music, and grinned down at her friend, Kris.

Kris shouted over the music, “Are you okay?” She looked worried.

Rose laughed and shouted, “Fine! I’m going to try again!”

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Waiting for inspiration to strike you? Five tips for defeating creative blocks

Waiting for inspiration to strike you? That doesn't work. I know all too well. When I'm stalled on writing or photography, "I'm so uninspired" and other variations like "I lack the motivation" is commonly heard in this household. But I'll be honest, they are lame excuses.And laziness is not a good trait to have.

Yes, getting stuck on a project is understandable. But there are ways to get past the block and get your creative juices flowing.

1. Do a 365 days photo or writing project. 
• Challenge yourself to learn and utilize a new technique each month. For example, if you've always been interested in HDR, learn about it and utilize it. And further, challenge yourself to photograph with the goal of telling a story. Don't just snap pictures randomly and call it a day. Take your time, think about what you're photographing.
• Write a down an idea for a story every day. Or take it a step further and write a short story daily. Do a timed challenge to write a certain amount of words in a short time frame.
2. Write short stories. Challenge yourself to write an entire story in 1000 words or less. And then step it up by decreasing the word count to 500...and then 250. And forth. This is a wonderful writing exercise because it retrains your mind to use words with precision.
3. Make a mind map. This is a great visual tool that helps you brainstorm ideas. For example, if you're writing a story and you're stuck at the point where your lead character might shoot someone. You could then jot different outcomes and then go with the one with the most interesting result that will best continue your story.
4. Do something else time-consuming but simple enough to let your mind wander. Oftentimes I get my ideas while working completely random and usually boring tasks like scrubbing the kitchen floor. Going for a long drive is a good trick as well, but with the rising costs of gas, perhaps not a viable one anymore.
5. Ask yourself weird questions while doing ordinary stuff. It's an odd tip, but it works for me. For example, while I'm grocery shopping, I'll wonder things like:
   
   • What would happen if zombies invaded the store?And I'll imagine chaos, whether people would fight or run, and how I could capture that on the metaphorical film (I use a digital SLR - no film).
   • What happens if all these eggs hatched chicks? And I'll imagine that there's some sort of chicken conspiracy back at the hatcheries where one of the inspectors was murdered and a batch of eggs got through because of that. And ... 

The benefit of these exercises is it gets your creative juices flowing, and you'll work up a few ideas for stories, photos or artwork.

Bonus tip: don't get in the habit of doing something like surfing the web or checking twitter, emails and Facebook regularly; it's very easy for time to slip through your fingers if you get caught up on interweb. Make it a rule for yourself that you will check only every 2 or 3 hours.

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Possible blog feature: short stories

One thing I do to flex my creative brain is write short stories. They are sitting in my file rotting away, which is a waste. I've decided I'll start sharing some short stories and writing exercises, such as "hooks" - the first sentences for a fiction story.

I'll explain the hook exercise another time. In the meantime, here's an intro to a short story I wrote a few years ago. I have no idea where I originally intended to go with this story, it's unfinished.

Nightmares (working title)

High above a deep blue bay, a woman stands on a cliff. She leaps out, soaring in the air. More graceful than a sea gull, faster than a hawk, with more flair than a dolphin. Majestic! Then as she begins her descent, reality sets in, and she lets out a horrified squawk that echoes off the cliff walls. Instinct instructs her to curl up in a ball, and she hits the water at terrifying 62 miles per hour. Gravity wins.

"Dana? Dana? Are you awake?”

“What happened?” Dana mumbled into her pillow.

“You screamed.”

“I died.”

“Again?”

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Things I am surprised by

• Seattle natives being taken off guard by excessive rain and flooding
• Lack of city planning for rain and flooding (c'mon, really?)
• Complaints about the rain made by long-time locals (all my neighbors bitch about the rain and cold)

And perhaps most important:

• Bad coffee served in Seattle

The other day, I went to this little coffee shop in my neighborhood and I got the worst coffee I've had in a long time. It was burnt, bitter and smelled off. I asked for a refund; they said no because I'd already sipped from it. What the hell? Business didn't look like it was booming; I have a feeling that they won't be around long.

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It's that time of year

The time of year where women decide whether to start shaving their legs more regularly or wear pants all summer. Given a choice, I'd much rather not shave. I've had one too many razor accidents. But I do like wearing shorts and skirts on occasion. And I do not enjoy the sensation of leg hair waving in the breeze.

Ah, isn't genetics great? I've been very fortunate to be endowed with a lush thick yet silky brown mane, and a healthy dose of hair on legs comes with the territory. They're not as thick and dark as some people's are, but they do get long. And after three or four months of not shaving, boy are they long.

Blogging about shaving the legs. Am I oversharing?

Maybe. But really, I think people - particularly men - should be educated that women's legs do not naturally come smooth and silky. It might surprise many of you, but I do know men who were not aware of this fact.

A good friend of mine's ex went to eastern Europe a few years ago and was traveling through the less touristy areas when he ran into women who did not shave. He later confessed to his girlfriend, who in turn told me about this while laughing hysterically, that he thought they were lycanthropes (the clinical disease/mutation type, not werewolf -- I hope).Or that they'd been too close to Chernobyl. He wasn't sure what to think.

In college, I knew a guy who didn't understand why women needed toilet paper to go "number one."

Seriously!

It shouldn't surprise me anymore that there are people like this out there. But somehow it still does.

Anyway. Spring. Skirts. Shaving. Suckage.

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Seattle Police's Reputation

The Seattle Police's rep is pretty much in the toilet. We've had a spate of police using excessive and sometimes fatal force when dealing with criminals. The latest incident that made the news is when they shot and killed a man brandishing a machete knife. News article here I personally do not believe it was warranted - knife versus guns. Who'd win here?

As a new transplant to Seattle, I'm pretty concerned. I've lived in DC and Denver where gang warfare and crime are rampant. And yet, I rarely heard about a police shooting that ended with fatal results. Yes I'm sure there were an occasional incident, but not to the same degree as Seattle. In the year I've lived in Seattle, there have been numerous incidents where there were fatal shootings or excessive force used.

What gives? Are the Seattle police simply not trained well enough to deal with the criminal element?

After this latest incident, families of these policemen decided to conduct anti-negativity rallies this week; a news reporter interviewed one of the high ranking policeman about these rallies and the reporter asked about their negative image, his comment was: "We are not concerned about it." (No link, sorry: I couldn't find a copy of the interview online).

My response when I heard that on the news was: they don't care that they have a bad rap? They think their actions are warranted? Fine, even? There are a number of ways to interpret his statement, true, but that was my gut reaction. Some days I feel like we're just a few steps from LA's pre-Rodkney King or "Chicagoland" of the old days.

This, while also considering the past year, left me wondering: How many other incidents weren't reported? Many of the nonfatal excessive brutality incidents came to light only because bystanders happened to have a camera phone that recorded it and contacted the local news agencies. What if nobody cried foul? If people are afraid of the police, they might not report problems with the police. Who could they talk to?

The police are supposed to be the good guys. If people are afraid of them, who can they turn to?

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Intro to Fiction Writing

Writing sounds easy, doesn't it? Just plop down in front of a computer, typewriter or if you're old school, pen and paper, and start writing. But that blank page is pretty intimidating. How to start your first sentence? How to draft a manuscript (ms) that will be well received and hopefully published? How to write a smart story full of clever quips and lively banter and plot twists?

That white page is intimidating. If it were so easy, everyone who ever said, "if I had the time, I'd write," would've written a book or five, and we'd be suffering from a paper shortage. Anyone can find the time to write. Got 20 minutes for lunch? Jot down notes or start your novel. It's very easy to find excuses to not write. Harder to actually do it.

I've been writing on and off for a few years now and am currently working on a ms. Right now the ms is such a big disaster that I'm half tempted to chuck it out the window, but I keep plugging away because I see potential in it. It's super rough, but it's there. I admit, the recent news about Amanda Hocking's spectacular Kindle success was one of my reasons for trying to finish this book and I'm sure I"m not alone in that. Note: I have not read her books, I have no idea if her success is warranted.

Now I've got my "cred" established, I'll share some advice:

• First and foremost, write for yourself. Write because it's fun and you enjoy it.
• Don't worry too much about plot devices, plot arcs, the dialogue and so forth. You can polish that and if necessary, rewrite in your second, third and fourth drafts.  When you're just starting, focus on writing. Get the words on the page. Keep going.
• And on that note, don't look back! No going back to edit. If you get in the habit of editing every time you sit down to write, you'll forever be editing -- and not writing. I've been guilty of doing this, and have vowed to not edit unless absolutely necessary. If I write something that might be a problem with an earlier section of the story, I just make a note and keep going.
• You will definitely get bored with it. There will come a point where you're just plain stuck or tired of writing about this particular story. This is not an uncommon problem for longer ms. If you're absolutely stuck or unmotivated, take a break. Do some short writing exercises. Write blog entries. Essays. Short stories. But above all...do not start another ms. If you do, you'll very likely end up with a number of unfinished novels. You've heard the term, nonstarter? In this case, it's "nonfinisher." Or its uglier cousin: quitter.
• Get comfortable with this maneuver: nod and smile. Once people get wind that you're working on a ms, they'll start offering you unsolicited advice and criticism. Even the ones that haven't read a book in the past decade.

That's about it for now. Keep an eye out for more thoughts on the writing process.

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False starts

I initially started this blog with the intent of commenting on news, politic and ongoing in Seattle and elsewhere. But as I quickly found, I have little interest in doing that. I felt like I was just regurgitating news and not really creating original content.As a result, I have a number of drafts I never published.

So. For the time being, I'm going to write about what interests me, and we'll see how this blog develops over time. It'll probably center around writing, photography, perhaps coffee and whatever else strikes my fancy.

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